EUSD race still too close to call

ENCINITAS — The race for the final seat on the Encinitas Union School District board of trustees is still too close to call, as incumbent Patricia Sinay has widened her election night lead against challenger Leslie Schneider to 136 votes.

The bitterly contested election pitted four challengers for two spots on the board. Rimga Viskanta, the president of the Ocean Knoll Parent Teachers Association, clinched one of the seats as the top vote getter, garnering 26.61 percent of the vote as of the most recent canvass on Wednesday evening.

Sinay, who led by 120 votes on election night, has seen her lead increase to as much as 168 vote during a previous canvass, but her lead has come down to about where it was on election night in the most recent canvass.

With more than 353,000 absentee and provisional ballots left to be counted throughout the county, Schneider, who ran a campaign calling for more board transparency and fiscal responsibility, has not conceded the race.

The fourth challenger, Anne-Katherine Pingree, trails with 23 percent of the vote.